ABSTRACT
In recent years, global attention has been directed toward the considerable social and educational potential of museums. There is a need for museums and collections to represent the diverse societies that occupy not only multicultural nations but the diversity represented by the world community. Museums as establishments of “culture” have drawn criticism from those who view culture as the tool of authority and museums as instruments of cultural homogeneity. One segment of the museum community is seeking to place collections and repositories in the neighborhoods of our nations. Another group is advocating a global perspective of humankind in relation to the natural, social, and cultural environments.
“Museums are central to our culture, to our sense of ourselves, and to the future of our country. We [museums] are agents of change and represent one of a diminishing number of institutions in which it is acceptable – encouraged, in fact – to think, to debate, and to disagree.” 1
